


Sonata for Robopsychologist

by lirin



Category: Robot Series - Isaac Asimov
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 17:04:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirin/pseuds/lirin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A robot has been accused of breaking the First Law; Dr. Calvin is called in to investigate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sonata for Robopsychologist

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ExtraPenguin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtraPenguin/gifts).



Susan Calvin’s shuttle landed on Gamma 5 less than 24 hours after the call reached U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men. Smith and Pickering, the two investigators assigned to the Anderson case, met her at the shuttleport, full of accusations and recriminations against the entire concept of robots.

“So much for your First Law!” Smith exclaimed. “If Dr. Anderson dies through your robot’s inaction, I swear I will contact every news outlet from here to Earth and tell them what robots are really like.”

Pickering joined in as they walked off the landing pad. “It as good as murdered him, I tell you. Can’t trust anything inhuman to actually do what it's supposed to.”

“And do you think you can trust a human to do what it is supposed to?” Dr. Calvin interrupted. “Show me this library of Dr. Anderson’s.”

“It’s more of an ex-library now,” Smith said, pointing at a plume of smoke on the horizon. “Your robot did that.”

“The briefing I was given said that the fire was caused by an electrical short unconnected to any robotic activity,” said Dr. Calvin. “Was Dr. Anderson alone in the library at the time?”

“Except for the robots,” Smith grumbled.

“Two HP robots and one WC robot?”

“Yeah.”

“And do they have nicknames?”

“The HPs are called Happys. I dunno about the WC, probably ‘Wacky’ or something.”

“Lots of people around here have Happys,” Pickering added. “Anderson was the only one to have a WC.”

“Yes, he ordered it from U.S. Robots several years ago. It’s a specially modified versions of the HPs, intended to work in his library. Do you know what he was doing there?”

Smith and Pickering looked at each other for a long moment, then Pickering sighed. “Not really. We didn’t talk to him much. He was kind of—kind of, well…”

“He’s kind of crazy,” Smith said. “He spends all his time locked up in that library playing music…well sometimes it’s music, and sometimes it’s all sorts of weird noises. And then when he comes out, which is basically only for supplies, he barely talks to anybody. He’s a kook.”

*** 

Dr. Anderson’s residence, and the ruined library, could be seen from the shuttleport, but it was actually several kilometers away. Dr. Calvin and the two investigators were silent throughout the ride there. Although Gamma 5 had only been settled recently, the asteroid was almost completely terraformed. The hills and canyons were covered with grass and brush, and a small stream even flowed along one of the roads they passed. If the curvature of the ground had been less noticeable, it could almost have been mistaken for Earth. Their destination was at the top of one of the largest hills: a small rusticated two-story house, and behind it a larger domed building in Earth-Edwardian style, which must have been rather attractive before the explosion. As it stood now, however, the dome had fallen in upon the building’s contents, and the stone was blackened with soot and covered with assorted debris. This was the site of Dr. Anderson’s accident, from which he had still not regained consciousness.

As they walked uphill toward the buildings, Smith pointed at the house. “The Happys were both in there when the explosion happened. The WC—Wacky—was in the library with Anderson. At least as far as we can tell. When they heard the boom, the Happys immediately went to find Anderson, ‘cause of your First Law and all. They found him and got him out, no thanks to Wacky. It had been right there with Anderson, and it ran away instead of getting him out. The Happys have sensors. They saw what happened even though they weren’t in the building.”

“I’m aware of their sensors,” Dr. Calvin said brusquely. “Your only evidence is the word of the two HP robots?”

“Yes, and if a robot’s word was admissible in court we would have already sued over that crazy Wacky. I don’t know what you did with its First Law to make it abandon a helpless human like that, but whatever it is—”

“Has the WC said anything since the accident?” Dr. Calvin interrupted.

“We haven’t asked it,” said Pickering. “If it can abandon a human to die, then it can lie. It’s not worth it. So we locked it up.”

Dr. Calvin raised her eyebrows. “As a matter of fact, killing—whether through action or inaction—involves a different pathway in the positronic brain than lying does. Robots are rarely capable of either, but an ability for the former would imply nothing about their potential for the latter. It seems rather lax for your investigation to simply ignore one third of the conscious eyewitnesses to the accident.”

“Eyewitness nothing! It couldn’t have done more to kill Dr. Anderson if it’d set the explosion off itself—which I won’t be surprised if I find out it did! The Happys are the real heroes of the accident, if robots can be heroes. If they hadn’t seen what happened and pulled Anderson out before the fire spread, he wouldn’t be in Gamma Hospital recovering right now.”

Standing at the burnt-out doorway to the library, Dr. Calvin looked across at the house. “The HPs saw what happened from the house?”

“Yeah, they have sensors…electronic, heat, everything. There was an explosion in the dome…probably from a short in the HVAC system, it looks like, although we’re not sure yet. The Happys ran out of the house towards the library as soon as it happened. While they were running, they saw Wacky head over to Anderson, bend over him, and then run away up to the top floor of the library.”

“As modifications of the HPs, a WC would have all the same sensors as they do,” Dr. Calvin commented.

“Well yeah,” said Smith. “It must’ve seen the Happys coming, but it was so scared or crazy or whatever that it ran away anyway.”

“Is that what you think?” Dr. Calvin sniffed. “You seem to be under the impression that U.S. Robots’ programmers are inept and can simply ‘forget’ to include the First Law in a robot’s makeup. There is no need for such a ridiculous assumption when there are multiple explanations for WC-1’s actions that make full allowance for the First Law.” She turned abruptly and headed for the car. “We’re done here.”

***

The investigators were surprised when Dr. Calvin asked to return to the shuttleport, instead of talking to the robots or interviewing the human eyewitnesses (none of whom had arrived at the site until nearly five minutes after the blast). In fact, it seemed that she intended to depart immediately, with Dr. Anderson still unconscious in the hospital and WC-1 still blamed for his unconsciousness.

“U.S. Robots promised us that you would deal with the robots!” Smith burst out. “You haven’t even spoken to one of them!”

“No, U.S. Robots simply said that I would make sure that WC-1 had not broken the First Law. I am satisfied that they did not, and therefore I am done here.”

“But Wacky ran away and didn’t rescue Dr. Anderson from the fire! How can you possibly think it didn’t break First Law?”

“If you are too blind to see the obvious explanation, why should I tell you?”

Before the conversation could become more acrimonious, Pickering interrupted. “I’ve just received a message that Dr. Anderson has regained consciousness. Why don’t you come see him before you leave?”

***

Dr. Anderson was an elderly grey-haired man, lying wan in his hospital bed. Other than a bandage on his arm, he showed few signs of the previous day’s accident. “Did you find Debussy?” he exclaimed as the three entered his room. “Did he rescue my files? Nobody’s telling me anything!”

“Who’s Debussy?” Smith asked.

“Debussy…W-C,” said Pickering. “I think it’s the robot.”

“Yes, Debussy’s my robot,” said Anderson. “He assisted me in my work. I sent him to rescue some of my most important files when the building caught fire.”

“But what about rescuing you?” exclaimed Smith.

“Oh, the Happys were coming to help with that. And my music is more important. I don’t have that much longer, but music is forever. I hope Debussy understands that; I know that Happys don’t.” Anderson sighed. “My concerto is almost finished, but I only have it in manuscript form. If Debussy didn’t rescue it, I don’t know what I have left to live for.”

“But—but—but—the First Law!” said Smith. “Wacky—Debussy—had to rescue you, otherwise he would have ‘through inaction, allowed a human being to come to harm’. Rescuing your stupid concerto would only be Second Law, obeying orders given by humans, and it’s supposed to ignore those if a human’s life is at stake.”

“But the human’s life was not at stake,” said Dr. Calvin. “Debussy was equipped with the same sensors as the Happy robots, and would have seen them coming up the hill. Between that and the modifications—which, I remind you, left the First Law intact, but modifications nonetheless—that made him more amenable to Dr. Anderson’s views on the importance of music in general and his musical creations in particular…well, I don’t think it would have been particularly difficult for Debussy to walk away from a fully living human being, who was mere seconds away from rescue by two other robots, and rescue music, a part of his master’s life, that would cease to exist if it were not for his actions.” She turned to Dr. Anderson. “Debussy did rescue your manuscript, and you can retrieve it as soon as you convince these two to let your robot out of lockup.”

“You locked him up? Debussy? My Debussy?”

Dr. Calvin turned and left the room, the two investigators chasing after her as Dr. Anderson’s yells followed them down the hall. “When did you find out about the manuscript?” Smith snapped angrily. “Why didn’t you tell us about that?”

“You didn’t seem to care about what Debussy had done, only what he hadn’t done,” said Dr. Calvin. “You could have inquired into it yourself; it only took me a minute to find out. Instead, you jumped to conclusions.” She glared at both of them. “I hope you will let WC-1 out from wherever you are holding him; Dr. Anderson pays a substantial licensing fee for the use of the robot and I’m sure he will not be happy if you make it impossible for him to get his money’s worth.”

Smith was still fuming, so Pickering undertook to smooth things over. “Thank you for your help, Dr. Calvin. I’m glad to find out the First Law was not broken after all.”

“You didn’t need me to tell you that,” Dr. Calvin said. “Next time you want to accuse a robot of doing something impossible, why don’t you stop and think first. After all, if you look at how well your investigation went here, compared to how well Debussy obeyed Dr. Anderson's request...is it the human or the inhuman that you can't trust to do what it's supposed to?”


End file.
